Parliament Questions for 6 November 2023 Sitting
Mr Leong Mun Wai: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs what avenues are available to Singaporeans who wish to report on foreigners whom they believe to have committed actions that constitute interference in Singapore’s domestic politics and participating in Singapore’s domestic affairs.
Mr Leong Mun Wai: To ask the Minister for Transport whether he can consider providing additional support to existing owners of commercial vehicles who require these vehicles to continue their trade in light of high COE Category C prices.
Mr Leong Mun Wai: To ask the Prime Minister (a) whether the Monetary Authority of Singapore (i) conducts regular inspections and off-site reviews of outsourced parties to handle critical IT and infrastructure systems for the domestic systemically important banks (D-SIBs) and (ii) assesses the impact of outsourcing on the resilience of D-SIBs’ IT infrastructure; and (b) if not, why.
Mr Leong Mun Wai: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs (a) whether the Government will consider working with the Council for Estate Agencies to issue a set of sentencing guidelines setting out how the financial penalties for failure to perform customer due diligence measures or report suspicious transactions or activities, as provided in the Estate Agents Act and the Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism regulations, can be varied based on the size of the suspicious transactions or the potential commission earned; and (b) if not, why.
Mr Leong Mun Wai: To ask the Minister for Transport (a) what is the latest average daily ridership on public buses and trains on weekdays, Saturdays and Sundays respectively; (b) what is the average frequency of public buses and trains on weekdays, Saturdays and Sundays respectively, (c) how do the figures in (a) and (b) compare with pre-pandemic levels; (d) whether the Ministry will consider increasing bus and rail frequency on Saturdays and Sundays; and (e) if not, why.
Ms Hazel Poa: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs (a) whether the Singapore Police Force (SPF) will be allowed to access the transaction and road traffic data collected by the next-generation ERP system for investigations under the Criminal Procedure Code 2010; and (b) if so, what are the specific types of data that the SPF will be able to access.
Ms Hazel Poa: To ask the Minister for Transport whether the next generation ERP system will continue collecting the data of vehicles when the vehicles are outside of Singapore.
Ms Hazel Poa: To ask the Minister for Transport what is the expected cost to the Government for providing the installation of the ERP 2.0 on-board unit for vehicles.
Ms Hazel Poa: To ask the Prime Minister (a) whether expenses incurred by public officers for mental healthcare treatments such as therapy sessions and medications at public or private medical institutions are reimbursable under the Medisave-cum-Subsidised Outpatient medical benefits scheme; and (b) whether the Government intends to improve the medical benefits for mental healthcare for public officers, and, if not, why not.
Parliament Questions for 7 November 2023 Sitting
Mr Leong Mun Wai: To ask the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment (a) what is the current proportion of non-domestic water consumers who consume (i) potable water (ii) more than 40 cubic metres of potable water per month and (iii) non-potable water, such as NEWater and industrial water; and (b) in 2022, what is the total consumption of potable and non-potable water per day by non-domestic water consumers.
Mr Leong Mun Wai: To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry since the Grab-Uber merger in 2018 which was found to be anti-competitive on Singapore’s ride hailing market (a) whether the Government has data on the merger’s impact on Grab’s (i) market share (ii) fares (iii) driver earnings and (iv) quality of service; (b) whether the financial penalties and measures imposed in 2018 were sufficient to overcome the anti-competitive impacts; and (c) if not, whether the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore will consider taking any further action and, if not, why not.
Mr Leong Mun Wai: To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) how many Employers of Record (EORs) that serve as an employer for tax purposes while their employees perform work at a different company currently operate in Singapore; (b) how many Singaporeans are currently employed by EORs; and (c) whether such Singaporean workers are considered independent contractors and are entitled to employee benefits under the Employment Act.
Mr Leong Mun Wai: To ask the Minister for Health (a) whether the Ministry will consider including a recommendation for teenage boys to be vaccinated by choice against the Human Papillomavirus in the National Childhood Immunisation Schedule, in line with recommendations by other health authorities in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia; and (b) if not, why.
Mr Leong Mun Wai: To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) in each quarter since Q1 of 2000 to 2012, what is the re-entry to employment rate of retrenched residents; and (b) since Q1 of 2000, what proportion of those who re-entered employment found jobs that paid at least 80% of their last drawn wage and were in the same sector as their previous jobs.
Ms Hazel Poa: To ask the Minister for Education whether students in Government, Government-aided, and independent schools, such as (i) students on the Integrated Programme who wish to sit for GCE O-level examinations and (ii) students who wish to register for subjects not offered by their schools, are allowed to register for GCE O-level examinations as private candidates.
Ms Hazel Poa: To ask the Minister for Health (a) whether the Ministry has studied how private insurance plans, such as Integrated Shield Plans, can remain sustainable without having to reject new applications based on pre-existing conditions; and (b) whether there are any plans to explicitly forbid private insurance companies from rejecting new applications for insurance plans based on pre-existing conditions and, if not, why not.
Ms Hazel Poa: To ask the Minister for Health (a) which of the MPOWER tobacco control interventions recommended under the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control have yet to be implemented in Singapore; and (b) what steps will the Government take to ensure that Singapore achieves best-practice levels in all MPOWER measures.
Parliament Questions for 8 November 2023 Sitting
Mr Leong Mun Wai: To ask the Prime Minister (a) for each year since 2010, what percentage of public officers have fully utilised the maximum reimbursement of dental expenses, which currently stands at $120 per year; and (b) whether the Government plans to adjust this quantum in line with the rising cost of healthcare and, if not, why.
Mr Leong Mun Wai: To ask the Prime Minister what is the current breakdown of senior civil servants on superscale grades that are at grade MX9 and above, by (i) race and (ii) gender.
Parliament Questions for 22 November 2023 Sitting
Mr Leong Mun Wai: To ask the Prime Minister (a) what are the President’s current international appointments; (b) whether the Government has taken advice from the Attorney-General on the current constitutional status of the President’s international appointments and, if so, what is that advice; and (c) whether the President’s current international appointments are, at present, unconstitutional.
Mr Leong Mun Wai: To ask the Prime Minister (a) for each year since 2010, what percentage of public officers have fully utilised the maximum reimbursement of dental expenses, which currently stands at $120 per year; and (b) whether the Government plans to adjust this quantum in line with the rising cost of healthcare and, if not, why.
Mr Leong Mun Wai: To ask the Prime Minister what is the current breakdown of senior civil servants on superscale grades that are at grade MX9 and above, by (i) race and (ii) gender.
Mr Leong Mun Wai: To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) what are the reasons behind the delay in rolling out the Lifetime Retirement Investment Scheme that was proposed by the CPF Advisory Panel in 2016; and (b) what is the expected timeline for setting up this Scheme.
Ms Hazel Poa: To ask the Minister for Manpower in view of the enhanced measures to reduce heat stress for outdoor workers (a) whether the Ministry has avenues to directly convey these enhanced measures to foreign outdoor workers; and (b) if so, whether communication can be done in their respective native languages.
Ms Hazel Poa: To ask the Minister for Transport how is the quota for Category E (Open) of the Certificate of Entitlement determined.
Ms Hazel Poa: To ask the Minister for Transport over the last 12 months, how many COEs from Open Category E were used to register new vehicles in other COE categories.
Ms Hazel Poa: To ask the Minister for Transport whether the Ministry will consider allowing cars registered under the Disabled Persons Scheme to be used as private hire cars (PHC) to allow disabled persons to earn a living as PHC drivers.
